Dismantling the ‘Lesser Men’ and ‘Supermen’ myths: US intelligence on the imperial Japanese army after the fall of the Philippines,
winter 1942 to spring 1943

Ford, D
2009,
'Dismantling the ‘Lesser Men’ and ‘Supermen’ myths: US intelligence on the imperial Japanese army after the fall of the Philippines,
winter 1942 to spring 1943'
, Intelligence and National Security, 24 (4)
, pp. 542-573.

Abstract

During the opening stages of the Pacific War, between December 1941 and
spring 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army appeared unstoppable. US forces in the
Philippines, despite their efforts, could not hold out against the enemy advance, and by
April the last vestiges of their resistance at Bataan and Corregidor became untenable.
The intelligence obtained during the initial encounters provided the US defense
establishment with undeniable reasons to conclude that Japanese ground forces
possessed a high level of tactical skill, and assessments of the Imperial Japanese Army
tended to exaggerate the latter’s capabilities.